Feeding device.



W. R. ALLEN.

FEEDING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED 001214, 1911.

1,985,781. Patented Feb.3,1914.

. 2 SHEETS-$HEET 1.

1/1/2322 ease 5-: I [22 z/ezzzaf W; R. ALLEN.

FEEDING DEVICE. APPLIGATION FILED 0GT.14,'1911.

1,085,781 f Patented Feb. 3, 1914.

2 SHEE T$SHEET 2.

III I z M122 asses [22 en for ,5 State allowing the drawings hereof and herein a spring tending t a of the reversely acting-retarding roller comside elevation of an envelop sealing machine embody ng my invention;

tinrran stares rrrrnwr. enrich wILnIaM a. ALLEN, or CLEVELAND, onto, ASSIGNOR ro THE AMERICAN mutate-intern contrasts, osoLnvELAND, OEIQ, a oonroaarton or-onro.

rnnnmo DEVICE.

Patented Feb. 3,191tet.

SerialNo. 654,708.

Specification of Letters Patent. a licat on filed October 14, 1911.

In the particular embodiment shown in the drawings, 1 represents the side members of the frame of the'machine, 2 the trough for liquid extending between the side membersand secured .to' them, 3 a moistening roller'dipping into the trough, and 4 a transfer roller cooperating roller for transferring the liquid to the flaps of envelops. The envelops are shown at 7 This invention relates to devices for feed- .in Fig. 1. They stand one behind the other ing paper sheets, whether single or folded. on their bottom edge on aninclined feeding sheets, cards or envelope, and its object is to deck composed of the plate 10 and the lonprovide effective means for limiting the feed gitudinal inclined bars 11. The envelops to one sheet or article at a time. are pressed forwardly against feeding roll- To this end the invention consists of a reers 12 by a follower block 15 resting-0n the tat-ding member adapted to act on, the edge inclined bars and sliding-forward by gravof fed sheets,iand, by a reverse movement,

. ity.- In this position the flaps of the enretard thesame and thus cooperate with the velops lie one over another, the undermost repelling members of the feeding device to flap restmg on the transfer roller under the old back all but the foremost sheet while pressure of a gravity 'rod 181pivotally carforemost sheet .to be, fed forried by the frame and bearing on the flaps. ward, In embodying such means I have In the construction described, the rota found that I can obtain the result most eftion of the feed roller in the direction to feetively my making a retarding device in bring its rear face downwardly is designed the form of a roller arranged toengage the p to draw downwardly and forwardly the forward edge of the sheet and provided with foremost envelop, thereby dragging its flap o turn the engaging poracross the transfer roller. Suclrmovement tion of the roller backwardly after the fed 18 intended to feed the envelop with its sheet has turned it forwardly.

moistened flap forwardly so that it passes The invention includes the broader idea between the roller 20 and the surmounting rolls 21. In such passage the envelop may travel into a. chute 22 w1th the bottom edge uppermost and the flap edge may ride across the t'opportion of the roller 20 and then pass downwardly between that rollerand a cooperating rol or 24, such downward movement being expedited by a weighted arm 23 acting on the edge of the envelop. Thus the envelop is automatically sealed.

- The construction so far described is sub- To all whom it may concern:

Be it'known thatl, WILLIAM R-.gAnLEN, a citizen of the United States, re iding at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga'and of Ohio,-have invented a certain new useful Improvement in Feeding Deof which the following is a full, clear, being had and vices, and exact description, reference to the aceompanyin drawings.

bined with the paper feed, and also, more particularly, the spring actuated retarding roller.

It includes also the combination with the retarding roller of a stationary retarder, whiclnunder certain circun'istanccs, is advantageous.

It includes further the particular embodiment of the invention illustrated in the after more fully described.

' ed June 23, 1908 to 1A. Markoe. The par- In the drawings,

ticulai features of the present invention are shown herein as adapted to this class of machine, though it is to be understood the invention is not limited to such class but be employed with machinesfor feeding other paper sheets, post cards, etc. I with now describe such features asthey are em Jodied in the present illustration.

The plate 10 of the feed deck has openings through it, of which two are shown at Fig, 3. Journaled transversely of the -machine beneath these openings is a shaft 31 on whichare rollers 32 projecting upwardly Figure 1 is a sectional Fig. 2 is a partial plan of the same; Fig. 3 is a plan of the plate constituting a portion of the feed deck of such machine and having my retarding rollers; Fig. t is a vertical section through the axis of the rollers; Fig, 5 is a perspective view of the separable retarding. clip, which is employed under certain circumstances; Fig. 6 is a fragmentary vertical cross section of the deck plate, showing the retarding roller and the retarding clip.

with the. dipping stantially that of Patent No. 891,277, grantfriction fingers 13 made by through the openings. These rollers are of the barrel-like form shown, the surfaceof each roller being roughened by longitudinal depressions. I )rovide a spring acting on the shaft 31 an tending to turn it so as to cause the upper portions of the barrel-like rollers to tend to travel real-wardly, that is in a right hand direction in Fig. 1.

In the embodiment shown I provide the desired spring action mounting in alinement with the shaft 31 a short shaft 3."), which is surrounded by a coiled spring 36, one end of which is anchored to the shaft 35 and the other end to the shaft 31. The shaft 35 is provided with a knurled head 37, beyond the side of the frame, by which the shaft may be turned and a suitable set screw screwing into an car on the under side of the deck plate bears against this shaft and is adapted to hold it in any given position.

I find it convenient to journal the shaft 3L by means of sockets at its ends into which extend reduced pins on the shaft 3."), and on a stud 34, which is clamped by a set screw 38 screwing into an ear formed on the under side of the deck plate. The spring 36 may very conveniently be secured to the two shafts by anchoring one end in an opening in the end of the adjacent roller 32 and the other end in an opening in the washer 3.), which is mounted on a flattened portion of the shaft 35. The mounting of the shaft3l on the alined shafts held by the set screws enables the parts to be very conveniently removed, if desired.

It will be seen that the mounting of the spring 36 enables me to put it under any desired tension simply by turning the knurled head 37 and the set screw 33, and I can accordingly give the roller a tendency to rotate rearwardly with the desired force when it is shoved forwardly by .fed cnvelops. I provide a suitable stop limiting the rearward movement, consisting of a pin 4-5 secured to the shaft 31 and adapted to abut a leather or other bumper l6 secured to the under side of the deck plate.

As the envelops are fed fi'irwardly by the feed rollers 12, which are shown as having strands of rubher, there is a tendency of one or more on velops behind the foremost line to cling to the. foremost envelop. The frictional hold, however, of the rubber feeding fingers on the foremost em'elop is greater than the frictional hold of the foremostenvelop on the one behind it. This frictional hold of the feed roller fingers is suflicient to shove forwardly the foremost envelop, notwithstand ing the retarding action of the barrel rollers which, due to the spring, engage and tend to shove rearwardly the fed edge of the envelop. As soon, however, as the foremost envelop, which has turned the retarding rollers forward, has cleared them, the force 'velops of dili'erent stiffness, as, obviously, the

stiffer the envelop the more effective it is in turning the retarding rollers forward. The adjustment of the spring provides for a considerable leeway in the stifi'ness of envelope,

a further adjustment, I provide removable humps, which may be used for the lighter envelops and are designed to lift them slightly before they engage the upper portions of the barrel rollers, whereby the retarding action of these rollers is lessened, corresponding to the more flexible character of envelop.

The adjustable humps mentioned, I prelcr to make of sheet metal clips, which lie on the upper face of the deck plate 10 and have spring ends engaging the edges of the plate.

Such a clip is shown at 40 in Figs. 3, 4, 5 and (3. 'It has an intermediate upwardly pro jccting V-shaped hump 41 and has two down-turned ends 42 and 43 which are flanged inwardly at their extreme ends. Such a sheet metal device may be easily sprung onto the deck plate with the flanges extending beneath the plate. The strip lies alongside the retarding roller and the hump is preferably between the rear edge of the roller and the high point of the roller, as shown in Fig. 6. In this position the hump acts to lift the lower edge of the envelop so that a smaller segment of the roller is in the path of the envelop, and hence less retarding is given to the envelops. For the heavier or stiffer envelops, these clips are removed altogether.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is: I

I. In a machine of the character described, the combination of a removable shaft, a roller on the shaft, an alined shaft, means for turning the alined shaft and holdingit in desired position, a coiled spring surrounding thejalined shaft and connected at one end to it, and at the other end to the roller shaft, and means for against the roller. j

2. In a machine of the character described, the combination of a feed dec having openings, a shaft below said o ienings, barrel shaped rollers on thcishaft'projecting through the openings and having their top"8l1rfac es at the ends substantially inthe same plane with the top ofithe deck, a spring acting on the roller shaftl and means fdr feeding the sheets against the rollers. K

j feeding sheets.

min

deck, means for giving to engage the sheet while it engages the roller to relieve the sheet of some of the retarding action of the roller.

4. In a device of the character described, the combination, with a feed deck, of means for feeding sheets, a retarding roller, and a stationary hump adapted to raise the sheet above the plane of the deck as it is about tobe acted on by the roller.

In a device of the character described, the combination, with means for feeding sheets, of a spring constrained rcverselyacting roller tending to retard the fed sheets, and a removable hump tending when in place to lift the sheets as they are about to act on the roller.

(3. The combination, with 2:,feed deck, of a retarding roller projecting opening in the deck, a hump adapted to lift the sheet as it is about to engage and means for feeding the sheets against the hump and the roller.

'i'. The combination, with means for feeding sheets. of a feed deck, a roller projecting through an opening therein, a sheet metal strap adapted to be removably held on the face of the deck alongside of the end of the feed roller, and atransverse upwardly extending hump on the sheet metal strap adjacent to the line of engagement of the sheet with the roller.

8. In a device of the character described, the? combination of a feed deck, a feed roller and a follower adapted to cooperate to feed sheets standing on edge on the deck, a roller projecting through anvopening in the feed the roller a tendency to rotate rearwardly to retard the sheets being fed, and a'sheet metal strip cooperating with the roller and tending to lift the sheet to act thereon, said strip lying alongside of the end of the roller and having a hum adj acent to the line of engagement o the roller, said strip having turned over ends by which it may hold itself in' place on the deck.

9. The combination, with an inclined feed deck and a follower movable thereon for feeding envelops standing on edge on the deck, of a feed roller overlying said deck and adapted to grasp one after another the through an the rolleiu envelops delivered thereto by said follower, and a hump extending above the plane of said deck in front of the foremost envelop and adapted to engage the envelops after their engagement by the feed roller for impeding their advance and preventing the delivery of more than one thereof at a time.

10. The combination, with a feed deck adapted to receive envelops standing on edge and means for feeding the envelops therealong, of a feed roller overlyingsaid deck and adapted lo grasp, one after another, the envelops delivered thereto by said follower, and a hump removably mounted on the feed deck for engaging the bottom edge of the envelops l'or impeding their advance and preventing the delivery of more than one thereof at a time.

11. The combination, with a feed deck adapted to receive envelops standing on edge and means for feeding the envelope \herealong. of a feed roller overlying said deck and adapted to grasp, one after another. the envelops delivered thereto, and a retarding lmrrcl-shaped roller associated with said deck and projecting slightly thereabove and adapted to be rotated in the direction to oppose the transit of the envelops there-across.

ii. The combination of a feed deck on which articles to be fed may stand, an opening through the deck, a barrel-shaped roller ournaled on an axis below the deck and.

having its convexity pro ecting through suci':

opening, the circular ends of the roller being approximately tangent to the upper face of the deck, and a spring tending to turn the roller rearwardly with reference to the direction of feed.

13. In a machine of the character described, the combination of a feed deck having an opening, a barrel shaped roller mounted on an a.\ is below the top plane of the feed deck and having its central portion projecting through the opening and having its 'ends not materially the top of the feed deck, and a spring acting on said roller and tending to return it when rotated from its normal position.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto affix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

Annmrr I-I. BATES,

mo. 'I. TRUNDLE, Jr.

higher than- 

